Now that Christmas and the new year are very much in sight, I’ve put together a list of my personal highlights from 2017. This year included difficulties, like losing our wonderful Grandad in September and our darling dog just a few days ago. But reflecting on positive experiences doesn’t take away their significance.

I’d love to hear about the best parts of your year too. Here are mine:

Perhaps ‘sorry’ is verbal padding, part of the way you string sentences together. It can, as writer Sloane Crosley observes, be ‘an entry point to basic affirmative sentences’. For an excessive apologiser, even simple questions or requests are accompanied by that short yet weighty word.